whales

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The Arctic's Baffin Bay and Davis Strait region is home to seals, bowhead whales, polar bears and up to 90 per cent of the world's narwhals. The area's marine waters also provide habitat for 116 species of fish, such as Arctic char, an important dietary staple for Nunavut's Inuit communities.

"I believe that our planet is in trouble. I believe that our oceans are dying."

"Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott... has declared war on environmentalists. My own Prime Minister Stephen Harper shares Mr. Abbott's views. These are views that will be condemned by future generations."

The North Atlantic right whale is a symbol of the biodiversity and fragility of the Bay of Fundy. It is a magnificent marine mammal and it is also the most endangered whale in the world. August and September are the months when these and other whales come into the Bay of Fundy in the largest numbers, attracted to the rich biodiversity of the Bay of Fundy that rivals the Great Barrier Reef and the Amazon rainforest.

Anyone who has ever filed their taxes knows that you have to have your paperwork finished before the deadline. But such rules don’t seem to apply to pipeline applications. TransCanada filed an incomplete application for its Energy East pipeline plan and yet the National Energy Board (NEB) is steaming ahead with a review. This process is in shambles and it’s time to start over. The NEB should force TransCanada to refile its bungled Energy East application.

The Energy East, Trans Mountain and Northern Gateway pipelines would add hundreds of export oil supertankers on the Atlantic and Pacific oceans and millions of tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere, further worsening planetary climate change.

Of 345 species at risk in Canada, more than 160 have waited far too long for recovery strategies. Thanks to a recent federal court decision, four luckier ones are finally getting overdue plans detailing steps needed to save and protect them, including identifying habitat they need to survive. But to make it happen, environmental groups including the David Suzuki Foundation, with the help of Ecojustice lawyers, had to take the federal government to court. It wasn’t the first time we’ve gone to court to protect wildlife.

Whales face numerous threats, many from garbage and toxins dumped into the oceans. Human-caused noise pollution also harms whales, leading to death, stranding, temporary and permanent hearing loss and hemorrhaging around the brain, ears and other tissues from decompression sickness when whales are startled by sound and surface too quickly.

Sonar used in naval training is a major cause of these debilitating and often deadly injuries to whales and other aquatic animals. With their sensitive hearing, marine mammals are particularly vulnerable. Sonar disrupts their ability to communicate, migrate, breathe, nurse, breed, feed, find shelter and, ultimately, survive.